North of Los Angeles in Torrance, California, Donald Cheney read reports of the attack on the Dog Bar campground. Cheney had moved to Los Angeles from the Vallejo area almost three years prior and had known both Arthur Leigh Allen and his brother Ron.
On the morning of July 15, 1971, Cheney's business partner, Santo Paul Panzarella, called the Manhattan Beach Police Department and spoke to Detective Richard Amos regarding information on a possible suspect in the Zodiac killings in San Francisco Area. Panzarella told Amos that he and Cheney "have for some time had suspicions on an ARTHUR LEIGH ALLEN, who lives in the City of Vallejo, California. The recent killings in the Grass Valley Area by an unknown suspect, middleaged, brought the suspicions to a focus."
Panzarella and Cheney told police that they had attended college with Ron Allen and had known his brother, Arthur, for approximately ten years and last saw Allen around December 1968. Mr. Cheney, who apparently spent more time with Allen, related that on different occasions Cheney and Arthur Allen would go hunting together and engage in conversations.
On one occasion, Cheney and Arthur Allen were talking more or less in a science fiction type story mode, and Arthur Allen asked Cheney, 'Have you ever thought of hunting people?' Allen talked on, relating how he could go to a lovers lane area and use a revolver or pistol with a flashlight attached for illumination and an aiming device, and he would walk up and shoot people. Allen went on saying that it would be without motive and how difficult it would be for the police to investigate. Allen stated that he would send notes to police or authorities to harass and lead them astray, and he would then sign the notes, “Zodiac.” Allen also talked about shooting the tires of a school bus and picking off the “little darlings” as they came bouncing off the bus.
Mr. Panzarella and Mr. Cheney had read and seen articles in the newspaper, The Los Angeles Times, concerning the “Zodiac” killings and the physical description and drawing of the possible “Zodiac” killer. Both agreed the physical description and drawing fairly resembled Arthur Allen. Informants gave investigators the following: Arthur Leigh Allen aka Lee Allen Male, white, 37 years, 5 11, 220 250 pounds, light brown, graying hair, brown eyes.